Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
Feelings of overwhelming fear and anxiety hit Alicia Hennessey, Amanda Dunfield and Jennifer Moore every time a rainfall warning is issued for their area. The women are neighbours and live with their families on Stannus Street in downtown Windsor, N.S. — their homes three in a row. For years they've each dealt with repeated flooding caused by problems with the town's combined sewage and storm water system.
Ottawa restoration companies are inundated with calls from households beset by sewage backup from Thursday's flash floods, which caused "catastrophic" damage to some homes. Deven Raval, owner of PuroClean, called it "mayhem." He said his company normally deals with five or so calls per day. But this has been different. "My phone's going crazy," he said, as rings repeatedly interrupted an interview. He'd already fielded about 70 calls as of Friday morning. He said four of every five relate to sewage.
Thousands of property owners in Sudbury will receive letter in the mail this week regarding insurance for water service or sewer septic line. The City of Greater Sudbury has partnered with Service Line Warranties of Canada (SLWC) to offer insurance. Many homeowners don't realize, depending on where a leak or damage in a line occurs, repair costs could be coming out of resident's pocket if it’s not covered by property insurance.
Private well users in Newfoundland and Labrador are being encouraged to test the quality of their well water for free. The province said over 2,000 well water chemistry kits are still available for pick up through Digital Government and Service N.L. regional offices to provide well owners with detailed information on the chemical levels in their drinking water.
People who live in rural parts of Nova Scotia that have wells on their property are in a bind these days. Water-softener salt, which is used to treat hard water, is in hot demand because there is little of it at stores in the province. "I've been looking for it for about three or four weeks," said Carol Morrison, who lives in Oakfield, a community about 30 kilometres north of Halifax. Morrison said she is keeping a close eye on how much water she is using until she can secure more water softener. "I take short showers, reduce the number of washes I do and really make sure the dishwasher is loaded right up before I run it through." The reason for the shortage is a strike by employees at Windsor Salt in Ontario. It's one of Canada's biggest producers of water-softening salt and there is now a huge hole in the market. Other companies' shipments have been making it to some stores like Costco, but they are quickly snapped up.
Flooding is becoming a greater hazard across Canada, according to experts, and poses a threat to more and more homeowners. Now, with temperatures rising and snowpacks melting, the risk of flooding can be high in certain areas. Most of southern B.C. is currently under high stream flow advisories amid wet weather that Global News chief meteorologist Anthony Farnell said could last the next couple of weeks, posing a potential flood risk.
With severe weather becoming less and less of a rarity across Canada, home insurance is climbing up the list of things Canadians have to double-check. And yet a new survey has found that one in three Canadian homeowners mistakenly think their standard home insurance policy includes flood protection. It doesn’t. The Insurance Bureau of Canada recently revealed that severe weather insurance claims shot up 400% from 15 years ago. Most recently, hurricane Fiona tore through Atlantic Canada and left $660 million worth of insured damage in its wake, making it the most expensive severe weather event in the region.
As many Atlantic Canadians found to their dismay following devastation from post-tropical storm Fiona, most insurance companies don't provide coverage for storm surge, but Cooperators Insurance does. The company wanted to find a solution after its experience of floods in Calgary and Toronto in 2013, executive vice-president Lisa Guglietti told Island Morning host Laura Chapin, because it found existing water damage coverage was both difficult for clients to understand and for adjusters to assess.
The city of Port Colborne is partnering with Service Line Warranties of Canada (SLWC) to help resident homeowners protect themselves from those expected costs. Through the partnership, homeowners in Port Colborne now have access to optional service plans that assist with the cost and management of common plumbing repairs. Specifically, the service plans provide protection for the water and sewer service lines that connect a resident’s home to the cities system.
Durham Region’s Committee of the Whole is in favour of repealing a controversial series of amendments that change how the region maintains and repairs the sewer pipes outside your home. In recent weeks, homeowners received letters in the mail, advertising a private insurance program for sewer pipes. The program was endorsed by the region, and the letters featured the region’s logo. The committee voted Wednesday to recommend undoing some of the changes, citing complaints and concerns by community members.
A project expected to help protect homeowners from flooding will receive over $32.7-million from the federal government. Windsor-Tecumseh MP Irek Kusmierczyk, joined by Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion and Windsor’s Mayor, announced the funding on Wednesday morning at the Lou Romano Water Reclamation Plant in West Windsor.
Smart meters have been a target of conversation since a bylaw change during the July 11, 2022, city council meeting. The change amended the sewer and water utility bylaw so contractors can enter private properties to perform the meter installation. This bylaw was changed to ensure homeowners cannot reject the device. The bylaw is expected to be amended by September.
Pius Gartner says he had to take off his shoes and pants so he could enter his home without getting them soaked last Monday. His corner-lot property became waterfront temporarily when parts of Saskatoon were pummelled by torrential rain. "Every time it rains heavy this corner floods, but this time it was 14 inches above my back door, so she was tough to hold back the water," he said, noting the water poured in through his basement windows and clothes-dryer vent.
The water has receded and fans are blowing around the clock in Christina Beeusaert's East St. Paul basement. Her belongings are stacked to the ceiling and like many Manitobans, she is waiting to learn just how much the water damage will cost her. "It depends, once they start ripping the other room apart, how much water damage there is behind the walls and that," she told CBC News.
After a weekend of heavy rain, Manitobans have been busy cleaning up flooded basements and leaky roofs. That's meant tons of calls for service to local restoration companies. At Paul Davis Restoration in Winnipeg, general manager Ken Cruzat says they usually get four or five calls for service after a storm. But in the last two days, he says they've received 50 calls about water coming through everything from foundation cracks to windows.
The City of Ottawa is endorsing a sewer line insurance program, run by a private corporation, that raised alarms and caused confusion among residents and councillors last year. In a memo to the mayor and council on Wednesday, a director with Ottawa's Infrastructure & Water Services Department said his staff found there's enough interest in the program run by Service Line Warranties of Canada (SLWC) that it would extend it for another five years.
The winter of 2021-2022 has had its share of drastic temperature swings that could have flooding implications for homeowners in the not-too-distant future. The freeze-thaw cycle has been repetitive this season which could accentuate stress on building foundations. As a result, older homes with cinder-block basements are especially at risk of structural damage.
In the fall of 2021, 45 Humboldt homeowners of century-old properties participated in a city initiative to test for lead – but that doesn’t necessarily mean renters were told. These numbers were discussed at Humboldt council during their regular meeting on Jan. 24, where council voted on expanding the program for a further two-year term testing 622 century-old properties. All affected property owners from the 2021 testing were notified of the results along with information about guidelines, contact information to discuss full replacement of the pipe as well as noting that filters exist to address the issue in the short term. However, the homeowner is not obligated to inform the person living there.
While the City maintains its water infrastructure from the road to your property line, homeowners are responsible for maintaining the pipes on private property. There are a few tricks you can use to protect water service pipes on your own property, in between episodes of your favourite show! Here are a few you should know: Insulate all pipes located near exterior walls; Keep indoor air temperature above eight degrees Celsius throughout the winter; Seal air leaks in your home and garage, especially in areas where pipes are located; Visit ottawa.ca for additional tips to prevent frozen water service pipes
Several families living in Abbotsford's Sumas Prairie have been denied bank loans they were counting on to help rebuild their damaged homes following November's devastating floods. A number of affected homeowners who spoke to CBC News say they've been told by their banks or credit unions their loan applications — home equity, mortgage refinancing and new lines of credit — have been declined or put on hold with no clear timeline because they cannot get their properties appraised. The organization representing Canada's appraisers says they take their direction from the banks.
